After
by silverflight8
Summary: After A Wizard's Dilemma, there is a gap. At the expense of sounding cliche, what does Nita think? Characters: Liused, Nita, other characters mentioned in passing only. Ignore the title, please.


Author's note: The italics are indicators of speech mind-to-mind. If I skip a line, it means somebody else is speaking. I'm not going to use quotation marks unless it is for direct, 'sound' speech. It'll be too confusing otherwise.

And, you may want to read A Wizard's Dilemma and/or A Wizard Alone, because otherwise it may not make any sense.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, setting or plot, unfortunately. Thanks to Diane Duane for the wonderful playground she has allowed us to play in.

Nita couldn't sleep.

She tossed and turned, facing the wall, then the ceiling, then her desk. It was too hot, then too cold. But that wasn't the problem. She forced memories down as they struggled to rise up and choke her. She tossed the other way. It was no use.

Giving up, she pulled on a heavy jacket and padded silently down the stairs, careful not to wake her dad and Dairine. With a quiet click, she opened the patio screen door and stepped out. She closed the door noiselessly. The household got little enough sleep as it was. She certainly didn't need to wake her family up early.

A blustery and brooding sky hung over the city. The stars, already dim in the glare of streetlights, were wholly obliterated in the cloud cover. It reflected her mood rather well. A fitful wind gusted, shaking dead leaves from trees, where they floated, delicate and beautiful to the ground.

Shivering slightly, she crossed the well-kept yard to a rowan tree by the fence, and sat down. She put her back against the solid and reassuring bark, and waited as her time sense slowed to match the tree's pulse. She simply sat there for a long time, feeling the cold ground under her, and the firm being behind her. In her world, where the bottom had dropped out so recently, it was comforting.

_The stars are obscured tonight, _she said to the tree silently. She waited, and after a pause, the tree's answer came back.

_Yes. What brings you out so late? The old problem? _the tree replied slowly. To a tree, Time was not a measure, but a real object, almost tangible. They savored it, and were sometimes slow to speak and give opinion.

_Age old. _Death had been around before humans had begun, and was possibly there seconds after the One created the universes. _It's not as though I'm not coming to grips with it. _She avoided saying the name. Almost bitterly, she said, _It's just, I can't imagine how I'm going to get through today, and tomorrow, and the rest of my life knowing that I can't see her, or talk to her, or hear her! _

_I know. But you are a wizard. You cannot shut out the world, _the tree said gently. _She is back to the ground that all of us come from. Besides, there is a bond that is still unbroken._

Nita nodded to herself, eyes closed. Her mother had said much the same when the two of them had been in her own Timeheart. _You're right, Liused. But I don't think it will make the hurt any less._

_It won't. Perhaps, though, it will shake off your palsy. Your mother is still within you. But—_and here, changing the subject deftly — _I think you need another of the wands. The clouds should be gone by the next dark. The moon will be almost full. _Above Nita's head, as she remembered from the first time, a branch snapped and fell, bouncing to the ground. She picked it up.

_I think you'd better get a rest. You are human, after all. _A hint of humor came through Liused's speech. Through it, she caught a glimpse of figures, with shapes close to a human, rushing hither and yon.

Nita got up. While she didn't feel much better, she felt as though the day ahead was not completely unbearable.

_Thank you, Liused. _

Could you please tell me what you think? I realize this is probably what you see all the time in fanfiction, but I do want to know how my piece is received. A quick note on anything is fine. (And, if you see spelling/grammar mistakes, tell me!)


End file.
